Rondal from the Strange Kids Club returns to help the Nerd Lunch crew drug CT’s milk and put Jeeg in the hosting chair. Up this week is a very special episode about one of our favorite franchises, The A-Team. We spend the first part of the episode discussing the original and what made it one of the iconic shows of the 1980s. Then we turn our attention to the 2010 reboot movie and lament the fact that we won’t be getting sequels to that flick. In our Nerd To-Dos, we learn about Trash Can Trolls and somehow get a reference to the 90s kung-fu cop show Martial Law.

This segment of our series hits the only sequel in the build-up for The Avengers: Iron Man 2.

Mini Review

Of all the links in the chain leading to The Avengers, I think Iron Man 2 is the weakest. It is a decent movie and I still enjoyed it, but it doesn’t come close to the magic of the original. For me the film suffers from a common plight of superhero movies: trying to cram too much stuff into 2 hours (see Spider-Man 3 or Batman Returns). In this flick Tony Stark is dealing with multiple enemies (Whiplash, Senator Stern, and Justin Hammer), ongoing relationships with Pepper Potts and Rhodey, and a new ally in Black Widow. Throw in a decent sized role for Happy Hogan and appearances by S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and you have quite the full boat. A pared down script would have helped quite a bit and given more screen time for Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke to strut their stuff.

Most of the criticism I heard about Iron Man 2 back in 2010 derided it as just a feature length commercial for The Avengers. The movie didn’t strike me that way, but I can see how some would feel that way. I think the issue was how well (or not) the Avengers related stuff was woven into the main narrative. Much of it, especially the appearances of Coulson and Fury, felt like B plotlines of an hour long drama that definitely were not going to pay off before the credits rolled. I think Thor had nearly as many overt references to The Avengers, but they were better integrated into the story and didn’t feel as forced. I wish the Avengers tie-in had been more deftly executed in Iron Man 2, but I’m willing to take this misstep if it pays off in May 2012.

Avengers Connections

Obviously Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, and Black Widow all have screen time and S.H.I.E.L.D. is portrayed as a going concern. Other references come out of the woodwork including:

A report with an “Avengers Initiative” cover sheet is seen (I thought a report like that would be thicker)

News footage of the Hulk’s campus rampage is show on a screen in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.

Howard Stark (later to appear as a character in Captain America) is revealed as a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A map in the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility displays locations of the Avengers members including some that may not be in the movie like Namor and Black Panther.

Different versions of Captain America’s shields make some appearances.

Stark formulates a new metal based on formulas left by his father which, while not named, is probably vibranium eventually used for Captain America’s shield.

Agent Coulson is dispatched to incident in the southwestern US which in the post credit sequence is revealed to be the discovery of Thor’s hammer.

What does the sequel tell us about Iron Man’s role?

CT already speculated on Iron Man/Tony Stark’s role on the team, but Iron Man 2 gives us a little better sense of how Stark will work as part of a team. Tony Stark is definitely going to have a strong opinion about how things should be done, but he will cooperate with those he trusts. The process of earning that trust should lead to some interesting interactions with the other Avengers members (as the trailers hint at). Beyond fightin’ the bad guys and other superhero activities, Iron Man is probably best suited to provide some levity to what could otherwise be a pretty serious collection of heroes. Since Downey is the key to this incarnation of Iron Man, I hope that a significant piece of that interplay between the Avengers characters takes place out of costume so we can get the full effect.

Iron Man 2. What can we say about Iron Man 2? A movie with a bunch of great ideas but that never really joins together into an enjoyable, cohesive movie. Downey is great. Again. I actually really liked Cheadle and the inclusion of War Machine. I love the idea of Whiplash and Justin Hammer. And how unbelievably awesome is that Mark V suitcase armor? But combine all that AND a bunch of setup for Avengers and you have a haphazard, somewhat unfocused movie. Iron Man 2 felt more like Avengers 0 than a true sequel to Iron Man. Like Marvel couldn't decide if they wanted to make an Iron Man sequel or a prequel to Avengers, so they just combined them into one movie. It was a bit too ambitious. And what happened to dropped subplots from the first movie like The Mandarin and the 10 Rings? That stuff had to make way for the more important Avengers initiative story line.

In all of the other Marvel movies the Avengers stuff was kept to tags at the end of the credits. However, Marvel decided to put the Avengers all up in the middle of this movie which was really distracting and honestly the actual Iron Man storyline suffered. I mean, how bad was the War Machine/Iron Man fight at the party? And how confusing and awkward was the reveal of the new scientific element that saved Tony's life? All of this should have been the focus of the movie and fleshed out a bit. Maybe even utilizing some of the previously mentioned Mandarin setup and leaving the Avengers stuff for the end. The movie should have been about Tony Stark and Iron Man but it was about everything else but Iron Man.

I think Marvel's decision to focus on the Avengers story over everything else is the main reason Iron Man 2 under performed and the main reason Favreau has bowed out of Iron Man 3. I also think this decision is just a symptom of Marvel trying to get all of their "ducks in a row" for the Avengers movie this summer. They just got a bit too ambitious and wanted to have it all. To make Iron Man 3 a hit, Marvel needs to get back to basics and focus a bit more on Tony Stark and Iron Man. That's what made the first one such a surprise hit.

In June of this year, we will reach the five year anniversary mark for this blog. We'll likely get more maudlin then, but we didn't want to let this milestone pass by. This is the 500th post on the blog.

Now that we've got all the kinks worked out, maybe we can write a few good ones.

Chris (@drquest on Twitter) from the What To Watch and Stuff We Like
podcasts climbs aboard our Lambda class shuttle for the 29th episode of
Nerd Lunch. After playing a little dream interpretation theater with
Pax, we continue a discussion that started on the Cavalcade of Awesome
about those Star Wars characters that are immensely popular yet had very
little to do in the movies. You know who were talking about: Admiral Ackbar, R5-D4, the bounty hunters from Empire, and even Darth Maul. What
is it about the Star Wars universe or fandom that has led to these
characters being fan favorites and will Jeeg have his nerd card revoked
for even asking this question? In this week's Nerd To-Do's, we learn
about an epic quest to watch all 700 episodes of a TV show and hear what
lengths Pax will go to watch the unreleased Solomon Kane movie.

We're in the home stretch now. It's just 42 (the answer to the ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything) days from now that I'll be able to read something of my own choosing and not feel guilty that I'm not cracking open a textbook or journal article. I'm already starting to pick out things to read including spending the summer reading a couple Narnia books with my daughter and maybe finally finishing the complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

This week CT, Pax, and Jeeg are joined by blogger and Atomic Geeks superfan
Chris Lockhart for a discussion of how Star Trek could have changed if
some key events worked out differently. What if Scotty was Irish
instead? What if Riker hadn't grown a beard? What if Janeway's animal
guide had been a lemur? Actually we don't talk about any of those
scenarios, but the possibilities of a Star Trek without Shatner, the
1970s Phase II series, and Captain Riker are all on the agenda. In our
Nerd To-Dos, we find out which nerd is already making plans for season 2
of Sherlock and talk more about the Ghost Rider sequel than anyone
could have expected.

It's our first cavity inducing episode. Well, maybe our second cavity
inducing episode after Episode 19 about sodas. Anyway, Jason Liebig from
CollectingCandy.com occupies the fourth chair for a discussion of all things candy. We learn about Jason's collection/obsession, talk over
some of our favorite candies, and eventually find our nougaty center.
This week's Nerd To-dos include a nerd's quest to visit Popeye's Chicken
and a special story about hanging out with one of the Jimmy Olsens from Lois & Clark.

A few weeks ago, I offered to send post cards to readers of this blog. All I asked in return was that you would send me back a picture with you and your card. Today, I feature two more who have done just that. And both of these fellas are from other countries!

A.J. Maggot is our friend from Australia. This card featuring Green Arrow traveled all the way around the world and shipwrecked on A.J.'s doorstep.

This here is "Galactus Helmet" on the Twitter machine. His post card traveled to the UK and he and his beard stand in front of what appears to be a mail contraption but I believe to be a secret entrance to an MI-6 facility.